DEBORAH KASS:
OY/YO RETURNS TO BROOKLYN

July 13, 2017

Douglaston Development and NYC Parks are pleased to announce the return of the monumental sculpture OY/YO by Deborah Kass along the Williamsburg waterfront situated at the North 5th Street Pier and Park. First presented in Brooklyn Bridge Park in December 2015, the sculpture will open starting July 11 and remain on view in Williamsburg through July of next year.

Walking the line between respectful homage and brazen appropriation, Brooklyn-based artist Deborah Kass mimics and reworks the signature styles of iconic 20th century, often with a feminist twist. OY/YO is sourced from urban and Brooklyn slang, the statement “I am” in Spanish, and the popular Yiddish expression.

OY/YO has been a significant and reoccurring motif in Kass’ work since its first appearance in 2011, taking form in paintings, prints, and tabletop sculptures. In 2015, Two Trees Public Art first commissioned the large-scale OY/YO for Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Main Street lawn as part of Art in DUMBO. In a provocative gesture, OY/YO, measuring 8 x 17 x 5 ft and painted bright yellow on aluminum along the Williamsburg waterfront, is visible from Manhattan’s Skyscrapers including the Empire State Building.

“When my wife Randi learned through her affiliation with The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery that Deborah Kass's iconic sculpture needed a home, we were more than happy to help by placing it on the esplanade of the North 5th Street Pier and Park which our firm built in cooperation with the CPC and NYC Parks,” said Jeff Levine, Chairman of Douglaston Development. “By participating in this new rotating art program in partnership with NYC Parks, the sculpture positioned in its new home can be enjoyed by all who visit the Williamsburg waterfront.”